New Beginnings
by greenskittles22
Summary: What if Prim's name was not called at the reaping? How would have things turned out instead?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (Katniss' POV)

Gale and I sit in our favorite spot in the woods, the sun streams through the leaves and I can hear the birds gently tweeting in the distance. I grab my bow and spring into action; I hear an animal in the distance. I raise my bow and with perfect precision, I lodge my arrow perfectly in the heart of a deer.

Gale stands up and claps, "Nice shot, Catnip." I wipe my brow and turn to him, "this will be great for trading in the hob!"

"Or it could be a celebratory meal after the reaping," Gale suggests.

"Don't hold your breath; this will get us a lot of stuff in the hob. Now let's go get some strawberries."

I start walking towards the berry patches and Gale runs to catch up to me. He grabs me by the shoulders and swings me around. I giggle as he pulls me close to him.

"Gale, what was that for?"

"Just for good luck at the reaping, I don't know what I would do if they called your name." Gale pauses to think. I watch his facial expressions and try to imagine what he is thinking about. He opens his mouth to speak and pauses slightly before he starts, "You know we wouldn't have to do this, we could run; you and me. We would make it, I know we would."

"Gale, that's a horrible idea. I'm sorry that was harsh but it's true. They would catch us."

"How do you know? I don't think they would if we went deep enough into the woods." Gale snaps back at me.

"Well you can dream, but I don't think it would work." I sigh. "We better get those berries and head home, the reaping will start soon."

We walk in silence through the greenery to the berry bushes. I come upon a bush and rip the berries carelessly off the branches. I open my sack and fill it with the plump, juicy berries. I look up and see Gale is doing to same. We both stop picking about the same time and start heading home.

We reach the district in about fifteen minutes and we head to the hob to do some trading. Gale comments, "I bet we'll get some good stuff in return for these berries and that deer."

"I'm sure we will." I reply sharply.

"What's with the hostility?" Gale questions.

"You just kind of threw me with that running away idea. Isn't it kind of selfish. Plus, I would never leave my family here to fend for themselves. They couldn't do it on their own."

"Well, I wouldn't want to leave them behind; I would take them with us."

"Isn't that kind of risky, Gale? That's just more people gone and more people for them to catch. Believe me, I would love to escape this place, but it's not possible."

Angry at Gale for suggesting what he did, I storm ahead of him with my hunting bag towards the hob. I can hear his loud footfalls trying to catch up with me. I quicken my pace. I can hear him behind me. I'm no longer that mad at him, so why not race. I steam ahead at full force, breaking into a sprint. Gale catches on that I'm playing and I hear him behind me now at a steady pace. I can almost hear his breathing, so I pick up the pace even more. Just as I do, I cross into the hob and almost take out someone with a chicken. I come to a halt to see Gale's angry, beet red face stop right behind me.

"Ha ha I won!" I mock

"This time, but not the next one Catnip," Gale threatens jokingly.

We do our business in the hob and I managed to get some cheese and a loaf of bread. That, plus the few leftover berries, will make a great dinner for prim, my mom, and I. I head towards home to prepare myself for the reaping. As I walk up I can see my sister, Prim, waiting in the doorway clutching that awful cat of hers. She looks so pretty in her skirt; I'll have to do her hair for her.

Prim sets down the cat and we walk inside to ready ourselves. My mom had laid out a blue dress for me to wear and I put Prim's hair into two pigtails. We leave the house and walk solemnly towards to town square. This day always worries me, what if I was called or someone close to me was. I ball my hands up and they feel sweaty, I'm not so much worried for me, I'm worried for Prim. It's the first year her name was entered. She was quite worried at home. She wouldn't even eat any of the food I had brought back from the hob. She'll have to eat when we get back from the reaping.

Approaching the square I can see lines of children waiting to check in. I can see clusters of parents waiting and worrying. Of course, there are carefree little kids milling around, playfully kicking rocks back and forth or playing hide and seek behind the sea of people. Someday they'll understand how much this impacts them.

A few suspenseful moments later and everyone is where they are supposed to be. I grit my teeth as Effie Trinket walks onto the stage. She angers me so, she is everything I despise about the capitol. Next Haymitch, district twelve's only victor, stumbles on stage. He looks as drunk as always. Effie looks disgusted as he trips and stumbles farther onto the stage. He reaches to give Effie a hug, but instead falls off the stage, flat on his face.

The ceremony starts and we watch a corny video about the hunger games, then Effie proceeds to draw a name from the big glass bowl. I name I do not recognize is pulled from the girls bowl, and a boy a vaguely remember is called. My sister, Gale, and I are all safe. I sigh with relief.

We walk home solemnly, as the rest of the district does. A cool breeze caresses my face and whips the edges of my dress around. As I walk I think about what Gale said earlier. Maybe his idea wasn't so crazy after all. After seeing the families of the two tributes tonight, I feel like maybe escaping all of it would be the best. Maybe they wouldn't find us, maybe we could make it out there. Prim wakens me out of my deep thoughts when she runs up to the door to scoop Buttercup up in her arms. Well, we survived it, but I don't think I want to "survive" it again. Instead of heading inside I turn sharply and head to Gale's place. I call out to my mom, "I'll be back soon!" My walk turns into a run as my foolish ideas run through my head. I'm going to leave this retched place, and so is Gale.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (Katniss' POV)

Approaching Gale's place I can see him herding his siblings inside the house.

"Gale!" I call out.

"Katniss, what are you doing here?" Gale questions.

"Well, I was doing some thinking, and I was wondering if you were serious about running away?" I ask curiously, barely keeping my voice above a whisper for fear of eavesdropping neighbors.

"Yea, I was. Why? Are you thinking about running?" Gale asks.

"Actually, I was thinking about it…I'm sick of living a life of fear, Gale. A life controlled by something so evil. I just want to get away from it. The reaping made me realize that it easily could have been any one of us going into the Hunger Games," I tell Gale seriously.

"Ok, let's do it. I've been itching to get out of this place," Gale says calmly.

"Are you serious? You really want too?" I ask surprised by his quickness to answer.

"Of course I'm serious. Why would I joke about that? We need to start making some plans. This needs to be carefully planned out, we can't just waltz out into the woods and expect it to go off without a hitch," Gale says, with a sparkle of excitement in his eyes.

"Well, let's get planning then," I say.

"How about we start tomorrow? I really am tired," Gale replies.

"Alright, I'll see tomorrow Gale," I say as I turn to leave.

"Wait, Katniss, I really am happy you thought about that. I'm glad you decided to do this with me, it means to world to me that you have that much faith in my plan," Gale says honestly as he pulls me into a hug.

"You're welcome. I have all the confidence in the world in you," I reply as hug him back.

I turn to leave and I can feel Gale's eyes on my back. I really did make him happy. I think this actually is going to work. I practically skip all the way home I'm so excited. When I get home I find my mom and Prim sitting at the table eating some dinner. I wonder how they're going to react to my plan. I don't know if I should tell them tonight. Maybe I should wait until we have everything planned out, then it will seem less crazy to them. I still don't know, even after showing them the plan, if they will go along with it. It is very risky. Who knows what could happen. We're definitely going to be taking a risk by doing this but it I think the benefits will outweigh the risks.

"Hey Prim," I say as I sit down next to her.

"Hey Katniss," Prim replies as she shoves another spoonful of food into her mouth.

"So, what did you need to see Gale about?" my mom questions.

"Oh, it was nothing important," I reply as push food around my plate, "I just needed to ask him a little question."

"Alright," my mom doesn't look totally convinced but I'll take it.

After dinner, I head to bed. I really have a problem falling asleep. I just can't stop thinking about the plan; I can hardly wait to start plotting it out. I toss and turn, but my brain just won't be quiet. The fact that I could escape all this just makes me so excited.

The next morning I get up before my mom and Prim. I throw on some clothes, grab my hunting bag and head out. I walk down the road in the early morning sunlight with purpose, as I get to Gale's I can see he is coming out of the house.

"You want to head to the woods?" I ask pointing down the street, towards the edge of the district.

"Sure, I think that would be the safest place to talk about this," Gale says as we start to walk down the road towards the fence.

"Did you tell your family about it," I ask curiously.

"No, I didn't think it was the time or place to bring up such a plan," Gale replies.

"I didn't tell my mom or Prim either. I don't think they would have gone along with it," I tell Gale.

We walk in silence the rest of the way there. We get to the gate and climb through the hole and head farther into the woods. I find a good spot and sit down, motioning for Gale to follow. Surprisingly, Gale pulls out a notepad with pages of ideas.

"I've been planning this longer than you think," Gale says as he smiles sneakily, "so I have a list of supplies we will need," he says as he points to an extensive list on the page.

"That's a lot of things Gale," I say cautiously.

"It looks like a lot but a lot of this stuff is really small, so it will be ok," he replies. "Here are the other plans."

I flip through the pages in astonishment, "How long have you been planning this?"

"Probably, for like the last two months," Gale says coolly, "I knew this would happen eventually, so I wanted to be prepared."

"Obviously, we're going to have to get most of the supplies slowly. It would be too obvious if we went and bought all this in one trip," I tell Gale.

"Of course, I've thought of that," Gale replies as he pinpoints a few more things in his notebook.

"Gale, we can't go through town with all those people and all that stuff and not be noticed," I point out.

"I've thought of that too. We have to go one by one; each of the adults will take a child. We have to space out the time too. Like one every hour. We'll meet in our spot in the woods," Gale explains.

After another hour we call it quits and decide to do a little hunting before heading back to the district. I can't believe Gale had been planning that for so long. It boggles my mind thinking that he came up with all that.

"You really are quite smart," I tell Gale as we walk back to the district.

"Thanks, you are too," Gale replies.

I think that maybe running away will work better than I thought. After seeing Gale's plans it looks very plausible. Now to present the idea to the families. This should be interesting.


End file.
